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My Blog and I

My name is Diana. I am the blogger behind Offbeat Vagabond. I just
wanted something to help me rant on about things I love or don't quite
love. I am big on books, especially Urban
Fantasy, it is my favorite genre. Any Romance has to be Paranormal,
because love isn't natural without a gun and a beast involved. Although my tastes are very much expanding, I have discovered a love for Contemporary even BDSM (shocking!) I love
movies. Sci-fi/Fantasy/Horror/Action, pretty much anything as long as no
Romantic Comedies are involved (Katherine Heigl, you have been warned).
Music, TV, Wrestling are all my things as well (although I haven't been watching Wrestling as much as I used to). I am doing this for fun. I want to
write on a professional front, so blogging is a good stepping stone for
me. I just hope that stone doesn't have moss and I slip and break
something. So join me in my little piece of the Internet and remember,
it is normal to be abnormal

October Releases

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Here is a book everyone from here to Timbuktu (an actual place, did you know that?), has been telling me to read. I get so busy with other books, it pains me to see other go on the back burner. Well it is time I take this for a spin. I just bought my copy today at Books-A-Million, used my 50% off coupon (this book was $15). So I got a great book and saved some money, it was a good day. Also at the end of this, there will be a guest post by the author Chloe Neill along with a grand prize giveaway. So you better head over there now because this is so worth it.

Courtesy of Supernatural Snark:

TEMPTING TUESDAYS

If
you take a twenty-seven year-old grad-student-turned-vampire with a
penchant for sarcasm, add it to the drama of being turned without
permission, then factor in an arrogant but absurdly attractive Master
vampire who's unused to having his buttons pushed, what do you get?
Well, I'll tell you. You get Chloe Neill's Some Girls Bite, the first book in her hugely entertaining Chicagoland Vampires series!

The lovely Tina at Tina's Book Reviews, Rummanah at Books in the Spotlight, Missie at The Unread Reader, and I are going to be hosting a read-along for Some Girls Bite
starting January 3rd and running every Tuesday through January 31st,
and we cannot tell you how excited we would be if you guys would join
us! For those of you who are unfamiliar with how a read-along works,
fear not, it's really easy. Sign up using the below linky (we'd love it
if you could grab a button and do a short post announcing your
participation to help spread the word), buy or borrow a copy of Some Girls Bite,
and take a look at the questions for chapters 1-4 listed at the bottom
of this post. Those five questions will be discussed here on
Supernatural Snark to kick off the event on January 3rd. Simply put a
post together wherein you answer the questions and then come here to
link up your answers so that everyone participating can hop around,
read, and comment like a giant virtual book club. Fun right? Right ;-)

Below
is the schedule for the event so you can follow along. The second five
discussion questions will be posted on Tina's blog on the 3rd so you'll
have plenty of time to answer the questions before we all post again on
the 10th.

Everyone
who signs up for the read-along and participates each week will be
entered in our grand prize giveaway, with the winner announced on each
of our blogs on the 31st. The prize pack (pictured below) includes a
Sentinel 04 t-shirt, a copy of the second book in the series Friday Night Bites, and a copy of Chloe's newest release in her young adult series Charmfall. In addition to the grand prize winner, two additional winners will also receive copies of Charmfall.

International
participants: The giveaway is open to you as well (as long as The Book
Depository delivers to your country), though we will be substituting the
t-shirt and Charmfall for the next 2 books in the Chicagoland Vampires series after Friday Night Bites, so you will receive Friday Night Bites, Twice Bitten, and Hard Bitten.

If
you're not familiar with this series, it's an adult urban fantasy
series, but I beg all of you wonderful readers who typically stick to
young adult fiction exclusively not to write this one off. It's ripe
with romantic tension (think Rose and Dimitri in Vampire Academy)
and has loads of humor, and I honestly cannot recommend it enough! Have
I convinced you yet? No? You need more? Well, it just so happens that
Ethan Sullivan (Master of Cadogan House) has been one of my past book
boyfriends, so I leave you with the below image as my final attempt to
get you on board (you can see the full post and read some snippets HERE):

SOME GIRLS BITE

Sure,
the life of a graduate student wasn't exactly glamorous, but it was
Merit's. She was doing fine until a rogue vampire attacked her. But he
only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker-and
this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the
walking undead.Turns out her savior was the Master vampire of
Cadogan House. Now she's traded sweating over her thesis for learning
to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan "Lord o'
the Manor" Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred-
year-old vampire, he has centuries' worth of charm, but unfortunately
he expects her gratitude- and servitude. But an inconvenient sunlight
allergy and Ethan's attitude are the least of her concerns. Someone's
still out to get her. Her initiation into Chicago's nightlife may be
the first skirmish in a war-and there will be blood.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTERS 1-4

1.
Let’s say tomorrow a “vampire manifesto” as Merit calls it runs in
newspapers across the country announcing their existence. How do you
think you would react? If you were hesitant to believe initially, what
would it take to convince you they were real?

2.
Since being turned into a vampire means complete removal from your
former life and a new job serving your House in some capacity, what do
you think you would miss most about the life you live now?

3. What are your first impressions of Merit and how she’s handling all the changes in her life?

4.
When you first read the description of Ethan, what actor/model/person
you know pops into your head as the perfect embodiment of him? Feel
free to include pictures ;-)

5. Do you think Merit’s anger at Ethan himself, not the situation, is justified?

Like the 100+ Books in a Year, this might also be a challenge for me. I do love Mystery & Suspense, but UF and PNR take up the bulk of my reading time. But I have every intention of working on that this year. I know I need expand my horizons and this will help me with that. I will start on Level 1 (12 books). Hopefully I can get further, but we will see if I can make it to 24 books, I hope so. Anyone UF fans expanding their horizons as well? Let me know.

Everyone knows this is my favorite sort of romance. I love my demons, vampires, werewolves and anything else that goes bump in the night. So this will definitely be a blast for me. Since a lot of Urban Fantasy books crossover to the Paranormal Romance genre, this will be easy for me (I hope). So I will aim for Four Archangels (level 4), that is 24 books. Hopefully I can conquer this one as well. Can't wait. What do you guys think? Any books that I must add to the list?

My life is crazy as hell and although I think I was close to reading 100 books this, I doubt it. This will also be part of my New Year's Revolution; more reading, less tweeting. Twitter pretty much takes up most of my reading time, which I love because due to Twitter, I find awesome books. But maybe I should try reading all day, go on Twitter and see what I missed, then get back to reading. I think this will help a lot more than just staying on Twitter all day LOL! Seriously though, my wishlist has about 700 books right now and that doesn't even include the amount of books I have downloaded from Amazon and haven't read yet. So I have every intention of kicking this challenge in the ass and it is going to like it. Who is with me?!

I absolutely loved doing this challenge last year. I doubled the initial requirement of 24 books, which was easy given this is my favorite genre. So I know I will aim for level 2 which is 48 books for 2012. Hopefully I can do it again, if not 24 is just fine, but I will be working my ass off on this. So if this is your sort of thing, sign up today. Actually you can sign up anytime, as long as you reach the amount. If you are joining, would love to hear how you will tackle this. Love finding some UF fans.

2012 is just a few days a way, what better way than to do some reading challenges. I love zombies, so this is so up my alley. Thanks to Book Chick City, I have the chance to explore plenty of our flesh-eating friends. So I will be tracking my progress here. I think I will do Two Chomps (12 books), want to make room for other challenges as well. f you are also participating, leave a comment about your progress or about any zombies that you highly recommend.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Thanks so much to Zeitghost Media, they have an amazing new trailer for you, Amanda Hocking's Switched. This is set to release January 3rd and this book has been getting rave reviews (was free for a while on Amazon). Now there are only 25 copies available for a giveaway, so I hope I am one of the 25 chosen to give you guys a copy of this awesome book. But until then, check out these awesome trailers.

U.S. Trailer

U.K Trailer

**********************************************************

Blurb from Zeitghost Media

About the "Trylle" Series and "Switched":

From
Amanda Hocking, million-copy bestselling author and internet sensation
comes the Trylle series… it all begins with Switched, available
everywhere 1.3.12. As a special gift to readers, Switched contains a
new, never-before-published bonus story, “The Vittra Attacks,” set in
the magical world of the Trylle.

The Trylle series continues with Torn, on-sale 2.28.12, and concludes on 4.24.12 with Ascend.

SWITCHED… at birth:

When
Wendy Everly was six years old, her mother was convinced she was a
monster and tried to kill her. Eleven years later, Wendy discovers her
mother might have been right. She’s not the person she’s always
believed herself to be, and her whole life begins to unravel—all because
of Finn Holmes.

Finn
is a mysterious guy who always seems to be watching her. Every
encounter leaves her deeply shaken…though it has more to do with her
fierce attraction to him than she’d ever admit. But it isn’t long
before he reveals the truth: Wendy is a changeling who was switched at
birth—and he’s come to take her home.

Now
Wendy’s about to journey to a magical world she never knew existed, one
that’s both beautiful and frightening. And where she must leave her
old life behind to discover who she’s meant to become…

Saturday, December 17, 2011

'Daughter of Smoke & Bone' is the first book in a planned trilogy
and tells the story of a young art student sent on bizarre missions around the
world by her father to collect human teeth. It turns out that she is an
important component of an ancient conflict between devils and angels and ends
up engaging in a forbidden romance with a warrior angel. No word yet on when
casting and/or shooting may begin.

The YA novel Daughter
of Smoke & Bone is going to be made into a film (book placed on
hold at the library as we speak). And, of course, once people see the phrase
"Young Adult book turned novel", people instantly go into Twilight
mode (you see, it has ruined everything). So people are already bashing the
idea of this which makes me laugh because they aren't booklovers. Why not
actually read the book before you throw it out the window? I know Twilight
has scarred a lot of us, but please people, give it a chance. Most of the films
we see have been made from books, so I find the criticism unfair coming from
people who don't read. But I do understand the fear, I just hope Universal
Studios are smart enough to not make this a Twilight-esque. At least the
lead heroine doesn't suffer from Bella Swan syndrome, so it at least has that going
for it. Overall, I am excited. I have heard amazing things about this and read
reviews for it. Sounds like a winner to me. Definitely keeping my eyes on this
one.

Years before meeting Shrek and Donkey, the adorable but tricky Puss in
Boots must clear his name from all charges making him a wanted fugitive.
While trying to steal magic beans from the infamous criminals Jack and
Jill, the hero crosses paths with his female match, Kitty Softpaws, who
leads Puss to his old friend, but now enemy, Humpty Dumpty. Memories of
friendship and betrayal enlarges Puss' doubt, but he eventually agrees
to help the egg get the magic beans. Together, the three plan to steal
the beans, get to the Giant's castle, nab the golden goose, and clear
Puss' name.

Puss
in Boots is a great prequel showing us what made Puss, well…Puss (Antonio
Banderas). We learn he lived life as the little guy, but showed that his size
was nothing and that he can get whatever he wants. His one and only friend,
Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) has a knack for stealing and they wanted to
get magic beans. But when Puss stops being a thief and turns into the town’s
hero, their friendship is torn apart. Humpty than ruins Puss’s reputation as
town hero and Puss is forced to leave his village. Now Humpty’s lifelong dream
of finding the magic beans that could lead to the goose that hatches golden
eggs, Puss decides to help him to clear his name, but still doesn’t think he can
trust Humpty.

Wow, I had such a blast with this movie.
One thing I loved that they did in this film was that this was solely Puss’s
story. Shrek, Donkey and any of the other characters we have grown to love don’t
make any cameos in this movie and I was glad they did that. I like them all,
but it is time Puss got his own spotlight. And it shined rather brightly. It
was his film and no one else’s. Given that Puss has been my favorite since Shrek 2 (the best of the franchise) and
this film made me love Puss even more.

I love that they used Humpty in this film.
It was a very interesting take on his story. Very creative. I love the story
and the mystery of whether or not Humpty will betray his only friend or not. I
loved the “love” story between Puss and Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), even as
animated characters, there was plenty of chemistry between them. They were
adorable together; Kitty is Puss’s match and more. Actually the chemistry
between all the characters was staggering. Dreamworks did a great job with the
casting here. Another thing I liked that Dreamworks did again was the pop
culture references. There wasn’t as many of them this time around (good call),
but there were enough that you would recognize from Youtube, that really made
me laugh and were very cute.

A little problem I had, well not much of a
problem for me, but for kids. I had this same issue when Shrek first came out (they
were subliminal about it), but there were jokes that I don’t think were 100%
appropriate for kids. There was even a Puss going on forever about how much of
an amazing lover he was and I don’t know if that was needed in a kids’ movie. I
mean it is still a good family film, but there will be jokes adults will laugh
at instead of the kids because we get it. Maybe it was just me, I don’t know.

Overall, this movie was loads of fun. It was
funny for an hour and got pretty dramatic near the end and it worked well.
There were a few things that weren’t the most original, things you have seen in
many other animated movies, but this movie still stands on its own two feet. If
you are like me and you were disappointed by Shrek 3 and Shrek 4 (especially
3), this film is a great spinoff and really doesn’t feel like a Shrek movie. Really good film, very
entertaining and looked quite amazing. Definitely worth the ticket price.